Dependent college student summer income

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 1, 2019
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Hi, My son who is 20, full time student in college earned around $11,000 this years during summer internship and on campus job. Can i still claim him as a dependent since i paid most of his college expenses (over $45,000)? Should i include his income with us or he needs to file his taxes separately?

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Best answer by MinhT1

You can claim your son as a dependent if you provided more than half of his support in 2016 (which is the case).

You do not add your son's income on your tax return.

He has to file his own tax return and indicate in his return that Someone else is claiming him as a dependent.

lisah1972-

Delete my children dependants they were already claimed by someone else

onehappywmn

Dependents didn't come over from last year on page one for 1040. They are in the easystep questions. I need to delete them

JohnB5677

If the "dependents" did not show up on the Form 1040 there will be no tax consequence to leaving them in the step by step. However, if you wish to clear them out you should go to:

PERSONAL INFO
[Continue]
Select the dependent and choose [EDIT]
Now select [Delete]
and confirm

That will successfully clear that dependent.

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MinhT1Answer

You can claim your son as a dependent if you provided more than half of his support in 2016 (which is the case).

You do not add your son's income on your tax return.

He has to file his own tax return and indicate in his return that Someone else is claiming him as a dependent.

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pollonius

TubroTaxMinhT, how do you reconcile the statement "You can claim your son as a dependent if you provided more than half of his support in 2016" with the claim that the condition is that the student did not provide 50% of his or her own support? Do you know what the relevant IRS publication would be to confirm your response?
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3041074-qualifying-dependent-full-time-student">https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3041074-qualifying-dependent-full-time-student</a>

Bunny3

I have a similar situation except that my child lived with a relative for the full 12 months in another state, can my child be claimed as a dependent by the relative?

KrisD15

That would be difficult to answer without further information.

First would be to determine if the student supplied more than half of their own support. Since they didn't even pay rent I would assume no, so they are a dependent.

Next, whose dependent is the student?

You say "relative". Could the student be their "Qualifying Child?" "The student must be their son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or a descendent of any of them" to be their qualifying child, so if not, the student would need to be their qualifying relative in which case the student would need to have earned less than 4,300.

For you the time at the relatives could be considered as living at home if the student was only away because he/she was attending school. This would include time not actually in class and even working a job if the intent is to return home when finished with school. Then you would still claim the student as your dependent.

It's a bit subjective. Below is a link to an IRS interview which might help.

You can claim a person as your dependent if they meet the requirements of being your “Qualifying Child” or Qualifying Relative”

These terms can seem misleading since a “Qualifying Child” does not need to be your child and a “Qualifying Relative” does not be related to you.

A “Qualifying Child is a person that meet these tests:

WHO IS THE PERSON? The person must be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or a descendent of any of them.
HOW OLD IS THE PERSON? The person must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. They must also be younger than you (or either you or your spouse if you’re filing Married Filing Jointly)

There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.

WHERE DOES THE PERSON LIVE? The person must have lived with you for more than half the tax year, but several exceptions apply such as school and military service.
WHO SUPPORTS THE PERSON? The person cannot have provided more than half of their own support. It doesn’t matter how much they earned.
HOW WILL THIS PERSON FILE THEIR TAX RETURN (IF THEY HAVE TO FILE ONE)? The person can’t be filing a Married Filing Jointly tax return, although there is an exception to that.

A QUALIFYING RELATIVE IS A PERSON THAT MEETS THESE TESTS:

This person can’t be a qualifying child to you or anyone else.

This person must have lived with you OR be a relative of yours.

This person must have gross income of less than $4,300

This person must have gotten more than half their support from you.

IRS INTERVIEW

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Bunny3

Sounds like my child, as a full-time college student, can be claimed by me as a qualifying child. In that case, does my child's W-2 need to be reported in my tax returns? Or, can my child file her own tax returns without a dependent exemption?